Semper Fi
by Leda-Sky
Summary: Her father died in the battle and Angie McLaren is pissed that's she not allowed the details. And when she's rescued by an alien that knows more than she does, she wont let the chance to avenge him slip past her. However, things get dangerous quick...


Summary: Her father died in the battle and Angie McLaren is pissed that's she not allowed the details. And when she's rescued by an alien that knows more than she does, she wont let the chance to avenge him slip past her. However, things get dangerous quick as she realizes she's put herself in the middle of a war. The surprising bit? She's not scared as long as _he's_ with her, blue optics blazing like cold fire...

Rated M for mature humor, a bit of sexual thinking (in Angie's case) and some pretty graphic action.**  
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><p><strong>Hiya! This is actually my first Transformers fic. It might have a few - thousand- mistakes, but I just started with the fandom, so please gift me your patience.<strong>

**And yes, before you read and dissapoint yourself, this is a CybertronianXHuman fic. I'll make it work, don't worry. I've got tricks in my sub-compartments. ;)**

**Anyways, I really hope you enjoy. If your dubious about the fic- please just read the first chapter to see if you like.**

**PS: I'll usually have a quote before the actual writing starts, but I couldn't find one to fit with this chapter. However, if you find one you think fits, feel free to share. ^^**

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><p><strong><span>Chapter One<span>**

**Mistaken Identity**

Angie McLaren sat on the dusty curb a mile from the country house, just outside the drive. She'd always loved this house, who wouldn't? Her mother had spent a small fortune on it and the family had loved the wide open space and peace. But now, it seemed… empty. Maybe because it sorta was now. Her mother was off at the funeral reception but Angie had decided to ride back on her motor scooter. She just didn't want to deal with her dad's friends all looking at her with pity and telling her how her dad had been a good man. That he'd been so proud of her and such.

Hell, she already knew those things. None of it would help the burning sensation in her heart, the pain that coursed through her veins, making her body numb. None of what they said would bring her father back. Angie bit her lip hard, hot tears sliding down her dirty cheeks. She huddled deeper into her father's army jacket. It was one of the things she'd been given when the Major had handed over her father's things. Angie actually had most of his stuff. Her mother couldn't even look at them… she couldn't even look at Angie, who was an exact copy of her father.

Not that she could blame that one her, even Angie herself winced when she looked in the mirror.

She tried not to think of her father, knowing it'd only make the depression worse, but it was the only thing her mind could focus on. He'd been a good man… Charming, humorous and full of love for his family and country.… Why did such good men always have to die? It wasn't fair. Angie gritted her teeth and hugged her knees tighter. She didn't care about anything else. She'd readily give her heart to have saved her father's. She'd sell the devil her soul if he gave back her father's.

It wasn't that she didn't love her mother. She did in a wacky way. Just not nearly as much as her father. For the longest time it'd been just her and her father. Until mom had come barging back into the picture after eleven years. Of course, her father had never stopped loving Lucinda and had readily forgiven her. They'd married after only one month and Angie had moved off base to the house her mom had bought. This house… Her father had spent the whole honeymoon here with them, building up memories. Then he'd gone back to service.

That'd been a year ago. He'd fought in the Mission City after the first month of his return. Then he'd been promoted to some advance clearance team. It'd been great, with the slightest of pay raise. That had made her mother happy. But Angie had just been happy because her dad had been. She knew he'd loved his new job, she could just see it in his eyes. And even though she'd had this uneasy feeling bubbling in her heart, she'd accepted his new position.

She should have voiced her concern… maybe then he wouldn't have died. Angie immediately stood up and stalked away from the house. She didn't care for the coyotes that ran along the territory; they wouldn't attack her unless she bothered them. And if they did, she had her father's 1918 US Army Trench Knuckle Knife with the familiar engraved _semper fi_. He'd taught her to throw with knives, how to wield them… and she was good at it. Angie mentally dared any coyotes to even get in a fifteen foot radius.

Angie reached into her black cargos and retrieved her MP3, plugging it into her ears and turning up the volume to 20. The world was bleached from her mind as the music instead filled it to the brim. She sighed sadly and walked faster, shoving her hands into her dad's jacket pockets. She glanced at her watch to check the time. The tiny clock ticked at 10:11 PM and Angie pursed her lips. Her mother had told her she'd be home at eleven sharp. She didn't have much time to herself.

In all reality, Angie didn't want to go back. Her mother had left herself and her father for eleven years. During that time, she'd married some rich widow who had a daughter of his own. Her mother had replaced her with some guys other daughter! And it wasn't that Angie hated that girl or her dad…. Oh no, she hated her _mother_. There was nothing but stinging betrayal and deep seeded hate. She would have been fine if she'd never even met her mother.

For God's sake, her mother had left her two day old daughter at the hospital for her father to take care of. Lucinda hadn't even looked back… Lucinda hadn't cared. But now here she was when her rich husband had died in a car crash. Leaving her stupid stepdaughter and herself to come crawling back to her father. Angie bit her lip. _Hey, it's not Moira's fault._ Angie reminded herself. Moira was as much of a victim as she was.

Because Moira was only seven, she had no idea that her stepmother was a life-leach. And besides, Moira had grown on her. The little seven year old hadn't seemed to gotten to that transition of getting it into her brain that Lucinda wasn't her mother. So when Lucinda had told her that Angie was her daughter, the little girl had squealed and hugged Angie. Angie was now 'sissy' to the cute little girl. And Angie didn't mind at all.

But she didn't like her mother in the picture. Angie was seventeen, capable of taking care of herself. She'd only stayed with the horrible woman and not claimed emancipation because she knew Moira would need a steady role model. Lucinda was not that. Angie kicked the dirt and nodded. Definitely not role model material; leaving her first family like she had.

With a groan, she paused to take out her earphones and stuffed them back into her pocket with a huff. Damn music did no good, she was thinking about dumb shit no matter what.

Angie continued on, staring up at the brilliant sky. If it was one thing her mother had done even close to right, it was giving her daughter the most beautiful sight in the world. Here in the country, away from streetlights and smog, Angie could see the night sky so clearer. It was breathtaking every single night. She'd never get over it. The moon, one cycle to being full, glowed down at her. The one thing trying to brighten this gloomy night.

Without warning, a low growl ruptured the silence of the calm. Angie froze and slowly brought her eyes downcast. Three pairs of yellow eyes stared back and in the moonlight she could make out the shapes of the wild dogs. Her breath hitched in her throat when she got whiff of the carcass. _Oh shit… was her only thought. She didn_'t dare move as the growls increased. Shit, what had happened to not bothering the coyotes? Well that plan was down the tubes. Walking in on their meal was a horrible intrusion on their personal space.

Her fingers twitched for the knife strapped on her thigh. More growls, a few yips thrown in. Angie swallowed, trying to ease the dryness in her throat. There was only one option for her right now. Run until they gave up chase. She couldn't use her knife when there were three of the damn dogs… Angie only had one toss! A bark and one of the blurry shapes crouched.

Angie ran to the left, into the wilderness of the grape vines. She tried to calculate how far she'd gone. She hadn't gone all the twenty acres, she was sure of that. The grape vines didn't help her. The five lines of continuous grapes lined the whole front of the property. She could be anywhere…

Angie gritted her teeth and unhooked her knife, sliding her fingers into the knuckle bands. She tugged the weapon out of the sheath, gripping it tightly. Not once did she loose her stride, adrenaline shooting her forward. It was exhilarating and frightening to have this much adrenaline pumping through her system. The only time she'd felt adrenaline was when her father was about to catch her sneaking something that she shouldn't have when he'd- _Don't think about Dad!_

It seemed like hours- when in reality it'd only been eight minutes- when she finally spotted trees. Something to climb! Even though her tired limbs protested, Angie pushed herself forward towards the tree line. But all of a sudden, a bright light shone down and made her skid to a halt. "Oh my God…" she said aloud, awe-struck. Was that a meteorite? It flashed over, only maybe twenty five feet in the air, heading to crash. It was… gorgeous!

However, the coyotes weren't blinded by the memorizing sight. One, the pack leader it seemed, launched itself and bit down on Angie's calf. A scream emitted from her lips, tears springing back into her already reddened eyes. She ignored the pain though, turning and slashing down with the knife. A pained whine escaped the coyote and it let go of her to let out an angry howl.

It was at that precise moment that the meteorite crashed into Earth. The dogs whined and chattered amongst themselves. Angie didn't waste time. She stumbled to the closest tree and - despite the screaming pain in her left calf - climbed it. She climbed more limbs until she was sure she was safe. Tears poured from her face, almost as hot as the blood drenching her cargos. Oh God, what if she got rabies?

The coyotes followed her, barking and growling while they clawed at the tree. Against logic and her foolish pride, she tried for help. "Help! Someone help me!" she shouted into the night. It was more than likely useless. The nearest neighbor was at least half a mile past her mother's property and she didn't know how far she'd walked from the main house. Angie checked her watch hastily and a sob raked her. And it was only 10:40. Angie clung to the trunk of the tree and cried silently.

"Please, somebody! Help me!" she shouted futilely. Another sob raked her. Oh God, she was going to be here all night until the dogs lost interest. And then she was going to be late to get home. Lucinda was going to murder her! But what if she lost too much blood and finally passed out and dropped from the tree? If she didn't break her neck, then the dogs were sure to eat her vulnerable carcass…. More sobs raked through her, freely now. She just let everything pour out of her. Her pain, anger and mourning. However, what happened next made her eyes widen and the sobs freeze in her lungs.

"Where are you?" The smooth baritone voice seemed to shake her very insides. Her heart leapt into her throat, so much that she couldn't speak for a second. "Where are you?" the voice repeated. Angie, feeling an immense sense of relief, called back.

"Here! I'm here! Please, the coyotes! I'm injured!"

"I'm on it."

The ground started to shake and Angie frowned. What the hell? Her question was soon answered though when this huge metal…_thing_ emerged from behind her, ducking under tree limbs. Another scream ripped free from her throat. The thing looked at her with intense blue - what she assumed- eyes. She stared, completely terrified, back. His focus turned to the dogs that were now cowering and yipping at the other. The thing walked forward.

"Scram, mutts." he growled. The dogs only took one look at the giant monster and they took off with their tails in between their legs. The giant metal - she could tell it was metal because she could hear gears turning and hydraulics pumping - monster turned back towards her. "Where are you injured?" it asked. Angie could only stare, frozen like a deer in the headlights. "Is your vocal processor glitched?" the thing asked, leaning closer. Angie was almost level with the things eyes. When he moved closer, she could see in the glow of them that he looked sorta… humanoid almost. But he definitely wasn't human. There were just similarities. Two eyes, a nose, a mouth…

"I've lost my mind…" she finally croaked. _Yeah, that right. I'm so depressed over Dad that I'm hallucinating!_ But the bite on her leg still coursed pain through her leg. That was real… and the dogs just wouldn't have run with tails between the legs for nothing. No, this _thing_ in front of her was very real. And right now, it was staring at her strangely.

"You aren't crazy, if that's what your implying." the thing replied. She only nodded.

"Who-what are you?" she squeaked and immediately hated sounding so frail. She cleared her throat. "Who and what the hell are you?" she tried again, raising her voice. The thing in front of her appeared slightly amused.

"An Autobot. An autonomous robotic organism from a far away planet called Cybertron. I'm takin' refuge here with my comrades. By the looks of the patch on your jacket, you're apart of NEST, are you not? In training probably, aren't you? It explains why you don't know much." he explained, eyeing her expectantly. "Come on, state your name soldier."

Angie winced when he called her soldier. It had been her father's nickname for her. She bit her lip. She wanted to tell him that she wasn't part of this NEST thing, but had caught it in her throat when he said that it only appeared that way because of something on her father's jacket. Which meant this thing had been part of the new job that had gotten her father killed. Angie's left eye ticked in her anger. By God, she'd been furious when the Major hadn't given her details of why her father had been killed in combat. But here was something, an Auto-whatever, that seemed to be apart of that top-clearance team. Or at least, wishing to join his 'comrades' in it.

This was her way of finding out who'd murdered her father… and her way of reeking her revenge. A slow smile curved her lips. "I asked first." she replied, not answering his question concerning this NEST. Angie tried forcing her muscles to relax but it proved a challenge. The Auto-whatever chuckled lightly.

"Right. Designation; Sideswipe. Now you." he alleged. Angie nodded.

"Angie." she replied shortly.

"Angie McLaren. Has a nice ring to it." Angie stiffened when he used her last name but hushed herself when she realized he'd only figured that out from her father's jacket. She forced a smile.

"Thanks."

The Auto-whatever's gaze swept to her left leg. "You require medical attention." he pointed out. She shrugged.

"My mom's a nurse, she can take care of it." she muttered. _That is if she hasn't run off to marry some new rich guy. _The thought was bitter and made her frown. Angie sighed and looked at her watch. "Oh shit!" she shrieked. It was three to eleven. She looked hastily at the thing- which now that it had finally sunk it, she realized it was actually an _alien_. "Look, Sideswipe, I really have to get home!" she explained hastily, trying to figure out how to get down from the tree without further harming her calf.

He - wait, when did she decide it was a he? - seemed to think something over before finally pinching her dad's jacket in his fingers and picking her up off the limb. He set her on the ground and Angie hissed as her calf protested at the weight she was putting on that leg. She switched her weight to the other one and glared at Sideswipe. "A little warning would have been nice!" she snapped, mildly annoyed. He just looked at her.

"Do you require a ride home or not?" he asked. Angie looked at the alien for a few second, before nodding slowly. _What is he up to?_ she wondered. The thing nodded curtly before it started to - get this- fold in on itself. Angie screeched and backed up a few steps, limping slightly. It seemed to have made itself a… well, some kind of car. Definitely alien. She narrowed her eyes.

"Is it safe?" she asked. The engine revved.

"You saying I can't drive?" the voice came from somewhere inside the car, anger tingeing the tone of his voice. Angie pondered that for a microsecond before she grinned a little.

"Maybe." she offered, limping over to the car. Something clicked and you could hear air silently whoosh as a part of the vehicle seemed to slide in on itself. The part - she assumed it was a door - moved away, revealing an interior. Cautiously, Angie stepped inside the advanced vehicle and the 'door' shut behind her.

"Try not to leak on me." Sideswipe snapped. Angie pondered if maybe saying he couldn't drive had been really offending. She'd only been teasing… Angie was jerked out of her thoughts as he tore down the dirt towards her house. She was about to ask how he'd known where she lived but was interrupted. "I assumed." he supplied and Angie smacked the apparent dashboard in annoyance.

The car went faster. Damn alien Auto-whatever.

After what only seemed a second, the car screeched to a stop next to her mother's garage. The door to the garage was open and Angie winced as the door opened. She hesitantly got out and looked over her shoulder at Sideswipe. She trembled, knowing if Lucinda saw the strange machine she'd flip. "Make yourself scare. Lucinda will kill me if she sees you." Angie told him quietly. The engine hummed and then he pulled back in reverse, hiding into the shadows.

Angie sighed and checked her watch. "Fuck." she muttered, glaring at the black digits that told her she was four minutes late. She must have been on the edge of the property… Just as she was about to limp over to the house, a tiny voice cried out.

"Sissy!" Angie's head jerked up in surprise to see Moira running out of the back door. A huge grin had lit up the child's face and Angie felt herself relax. She'd always found Moira's smiles contagious and heart-warming. The little girl collided into her 'sister' and Angie bit her lip to keep herself from whimpering as she had to put her weight on her injured leg to keep balance. Moira held her arms up and Angie picked her up immediately.

"Hey there, angel." Angie cooed, hoisting Moira on her hip and letting her weight fall on her good side. The little girl giggled.

"Mommy is worried about you sissy." she said, playing with her sisters jacket. Then her baby brown eyes looked hesitantly side to side. "Your in _trouble_." The way she said the word trouble was like it was a cuss word. It made Angie smile a little, humored. She feigned shock.

"Oh no! Whatever shall I do, Moira?" she asked, faking a tremble. Moira giggled again and smiled mischievously.

"Take it like a soldier!" she answered and Angie's smile dropped. She hugged the girl to her chest.

"I will…" she whispered, barely keeping her voice from breaking. Moira nodded happily and hooked her arms around her sister neck. Angie looked up at the house, noticing her mother was standing in the doorway with a stern look on her face. It was a look Angie had quickly gotten used to when her mother had been brought back into the family picture. She took a deep breath and limped over to her mother.

The face quickly changed into one of slight concern and business. Her mother walked away to get her first aid kit and Angie took that moment to turn her head over her shoulder to try and catch a glance at Sideswipe. She didn't see him, but she knew he was there. She nodded slightly and then walked into her house, shutting the door behind her.

She set Moira down and smiled. "I gotta go get cleaned up, angel. Stay out of the backyard." she whispered and kissed the girl on top of the head. She nodded distractedly, eyes already honing in on her toys. Angie walked to the stairs and looked up. "Lu-…mom?" she called up. She winced at her mother's response.

"Master bath. Now."

Angie took a deep breath and put on her poker face as she started to climb the stairs. The only give away that she was in pain was the stiffness in her jaw as she gritted her teeth. It seemed forever until she reached the top and she let out a shaky breath, holding back tears. _God, that hurt… she thought to herself as she limped to her father_'s and Lucinda's room. She avoided looking at anything and headed straight to the bathroom. Sitting on the toilet lid silently, Angie cast her mother a no readable look. Her mother's face was puckered in disappointment and a shard of shame stabbed at Angie's heart. She hated to disappoint _anybody_.

"It wasn't my fault…" she murmured and this caused her mother to glare at her.

"Don't give me that bullshit, Angelica Marie." he mother snapped and pointed to Angie's pants. She shucked them off silently, keeping her poker face on. Her mother immediately tended to the bite wound and was wrapping it up when she continued her rant. "Why did you even leave the house? If I'd known you were going to walk out into dirty dog infested territory I would have told you to stay with me. You are so irresponsible, Angelica! Your father would be disappointed in you." Angie felt a flicker of anger dance inside her soul.

"It's not like I went looking for trouble, _Lucinda_. I just went for a walk and stumbled in on their dinner. They chased and I luckily got s-… stuck up a tree and waited them out. I'm only a few minutes late, it's not the end of the world! Dad would have accepted it!" she snapped back. Her mother tied the bandage a little too tightly and looked at her daughter harshly.

"Don't you dare talk to your _mother_ like that, Angelica. Go to your room." she snarled lowly. Angie got up quickly and sneered down at her still crouching mother.

"It's Angie and it would be my pleasure." she retorted. She strode away before her mother could recover and slammed her door shut. She sighed and looked down at herself. She'd stormed out without her pants, blue boy shorts showing for the whole household to see. With another sigh, she shed her fathers jacket and pulled the black tank over her head. She maneuvered towards her dresser, rearranging the ladies in her matching blue bra.

A cleared throat came from behind her and Angie groaned. She turned, ready to yell at Lucinda some more, but she froze at the sight in front of her. There, by her window, stood a _guy_. About six feet with a mop of messy black hair that seemed to hang in his bright blue eyes. He was wearing a black leather jacket and a white t-shirt under with some jeans with tears at the knees and converse. He appeared in his early twenties too. The scream bubbled in her lungs as she remembered she was in her underwear and had left her knife with her pants. There were some in her dresser and one under her mattress, but both she'd have to move to get.

"Angie, or is it Angelica?" he asked, raising a brow. Angie finally moved her mouth to scream, but he was there quickly, one hand covering her mouth while the other pinned her arms to her sides by wrapping around her. "Shh! I don't need your carrier to rush in here and causing a commotion." he snapped and Angie kicked his shin. The guy didn't even seem to notice much, only sparing her an annoyed look. "It's Sideswipe, squishy." he snapped and Angie rolled her eyes.

_Sideswipe's an alien robot, asshole._ she wanted to shout at him. He seemed to understand her anyways. "It's only a holoform I produced." he explained, still sounding annoyed. She only narrowed her eyes at the man and squirmed. He didn't let go and Angie growled. So she did what seemed the only other option. She licked his palm. He pulled it away, a disgusted look on his face.

She took that time to scream. The guy looked at her menacingly and let her go. She heard her mother walking to her room, a little hurried. She smirked at the guy but he only rolled his eyes and _blinked out of existence._ Angie's jaw dropped and she paled. Oh crap, that _had_ been Sideswipe doing a hologram or whatever. Which meant she was now going to look like a huge fool. Damn alien Auto-whatever…

Her mother opened the door and Angie turned to her with a forced smile. "Spider, sorry." she said hastily before her mother could put in her two cents. Lucinda only rolled her eyes and shut the door. Angie waited until she heard her mother walk downstairs to Moira before she peeled off to the window. She threw it open, eyes searching the darkness for the metal monster. "Sideswipe? Ya out there? I'm so sorry, I didn't believe it was you." she called out quietly. There was no reply as she leaned out into the chilly country air. With a sigh, deciding he was pissed and not going to talk to her, she pulled back from the window. She shut it silently, trying not to pout.

"You've got some explaining to do." came his commanding voice. Angie twirled on her toes to bump nose first into his chest. She blushed scarlet and stepped back, crossing her arms over her chest in a fail attempt to hide herself. Sideswipe only stared down at her with a cool, although irritated, expression. Angie opened her mouth but shut it with a sigh and walked around him back towards her dresser. She grabbed her fluffy gray robe and pulled it on before glancing back at the alien.

"About what?" she asked before moving to plop down on her bed. His blue eyes narrowed.

"No NEST trainees would flip out over a holoform. If you'd been under training, you would have known about the holoforms and wouldn't have acted like a sparkling." he snapped, anger lighting a fire in his blue eyes. Angie looked away. "Explain yourself. Because I'm starting to assume you're a Decepticon spy."

"I'm not a NEST trainee… I actually have no idea what NEST is. But my father was a military man and if his jacket had the patch for that program, he was in it."

"Was?"

Angie winced and bit her lip. "He was killed in the line of duty." she murmured, trying to hold back the tears at saying it aloud. Her throat was closing up, making it difficult to talk. She cleared it a few times before looking up at Sideswipe. He was looking back, a poker face on. She ducked her head down again, feeling like she was under her father's scrutinizing gaze again.

"Can you contact his superiors?" he asked finally. Angie didn't know how to feel. He hadn't bombarded her with the condolences everyone else had, but he hadn't even looked a _little_ sorry for her misfortune. A voice in the back of her head huffed at her. _Choose already, Angie. You want a pity party or not?_

_No, I don't want a pity party… But I do want at least a little sympathy..._ she told herself. She sighed at how selfish that sounded and looked up at the man before her. She kinda owed him for not telling the exact truth, but it was late and Angie doubted the Major would be awake. She wasn't going to wake him, not after just attending funeral services. That was bad luck in her books.

"I could try tomorrow morning. Is that alright?"

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><p><strong>And there we go! First chapter all bundled up nicely for you. And hey, guess what? I even have an image of Angie if you were wondering about her appearence. My friend's OC is in the drawing too - as it was a sorta gift for her story - but I hope you wont mind. Hey, maybe you'll do yourself and read her epic story while your at it. ;D (Yup, shameless advertising.)<strong>

**http:/leda-of-the-sky(.)deviantart(.)com/#/d4fp8k2 Just take off the parenthesis around the periods and ya good. ;)**

**Also, before we part ways... I'm also writing another few stories - one which is another TF one that I will be uploading shortly - so my updates may be spontaneous. Like, could take months or hours depending on my schedule. *shrugs* Hope you don't mind.**

**With Bunches of Love and Energon Goodies,**

**Leda**


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